Dick Powell originated the character of Det. (then Inspector) Amos Burke on his own anthology series, “The Dick Powell Show” in 1961.  However, by the time “Burke’s Law” was ready to shoot, the good Mr. Powell had died of cancer and the role was awarded to the great Gene Barry, a wonderful actor who had not only saved the people of Earth from aliens in The War Of The Worlds (1953), but who also needed a new regular series since “Bat Masterson” had been canceled two years prior.

Barry absolutely oozes charisma as the wise-cracking, smooth-talking, dressed-to-impress Los Angeles Homicide Captain that breaks the mold for all of those other LAPD dicks: A) he isn’t racist, B) he can get a date without paying for it, C) he’s cool, calm, and collected, D) he doesn’t falsify evidence or E) shoot random people, and, best of all F) he’s a millionaire…so you don’t have to worry about him taking a bribe and sending an innocent person off to the gas chamber!

Joining Barry in his adventures are Gary Conway as the well-read, and impulsive-yet-unusually-thorough Det. Tim Tilson (Gary started out in AIP’s epic I Was A Teenage Frankenstein and found himself stranded in the “Land Of The Giants” by Irwin Allen before going on to writing the second and third installments of the American Ninja films and Sylvester Stallone’s Over The Top!), Regis Toomey Det. Les Hart and Leon Lontoc as Burke’s faithful manservant, Henry.  The title of this Aaron Spelling-produced show stems from main character Burke’s amusing habit of making up his own “laws” on the spot - often as a comeback line (e.g. “Never confuse the impossible with the improbable: Burke’s Law.”).  Other semi-regulars include Michael Fox as a medical examiner and Eileen O’Neill as Burke’s busty sergeant.

VCI, the one company out there that still seems to realize people love Saturday Matinee Serials (and kudos for that alone!), brings us the beginning half of “Burke’s Law” in a four-disc set containing the very first 16 episodes of Season One.  Each episode is presented in its original broadcast order.

Disc One:

Episode 1: “Who Killed Holly Howard?” - Directed by Hy Averback/Original Air Date: 20 Sept. 1963 - The body of a beautiful model is found near a road-construction site.  Was she shot first or drowned?  How do several wealthy Texans (including Bruce Cabot, Rod Cameron) and their camera-happy butler (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) fit into the whole affair?  Our hero’s advice?  “Never eat little round pancakes when you’re in a hurry: Burke’s Law.”  Elizabeth Allen, William Bendix, Jay C. Flippen, Zasu Pitts, Fred Clark, and Will Rogers, Jr. guest star.

Luigi’s Useless Information: Unfortunately, comedienne Zasu Pitts never had the chance to see her performance in this premiere episode: she had died three months earlier from cancer.  Sir Cedric Hardwicke, who (despite his strong acting talent) played the least-memorable descendent of Dr. Frankenstein in The Ghost Of Frankenstein and starred opposite Vincent Price in The Invisible Man Returns, joined the choir invisible than a year later from a lung ailment.  William Bendix, a former Hollywood tough guy with an inimitable New York accent, died fourteen months after this episode aired from pneumonia.  Actually, a lot of the guest stars in this episode had untimely departures: Fred Clark died in 1968 (liver ailment), Jay C. Flippen died during surgery in 1971, Bruce Cabot died of cancer in 1972, Rod Cameron in 1983 (cancer again), Will Rogers, Jr. committed suicide in 1993, and Elizabeth Allen passed away in 2006 from kidney failure.  OK, so I’m a bit of morbid guy…sue me.

Episode 2: “Who Killed Mr. X?” - Directed by Don Weis/Original Air Date: 27 Sept. 1963 - “They don’t leave clues like they used to.” quips Les at the discovery of a thirty-year-old matchbook with an unidentified corpse found next to a merry-go-round.  A martini-guzzling Elizabeth Montgomery is one of several suspects…Jim Backus, Dina Merrill, Charles Ruggles, and Soupy Sales are some of the other ones. 

Luigi’s Useless Information: Martinis abound in Elizabeth Montgomery’s scenes.  Years later, the popular drink would frequent the set of “Bewitched”.  Mel Blanc, the iconic voice actor that made the animated characters from Warner Bros Looney Tunes shorts, offers his talent in bringing  Soupy Sales’ mynah bird to life.  Speaking of voiceover artists, Charles Ruggles will perhaps best be remembered (or rather, his voice will) as Aesop in “The Bullwinkle Show” (1961).  He also did some motion picture film work and, in several of his features (The Perfect Marriage (1947) and Ruggles Of Red Gap), was cast with Zasu Pitts (who guest starred in the last episode).

Episode 3: “Who Killed Cable Roberts?” - Directed by Jeffrey Hayden/Original Air Date: 4  Oct. 1963 - A famous big-game hunter is found mounted on his trophy wall, leaving behind two wives (Lizabeth Scott and Mary Astor), a headstrong taxidermist (the great John Saxon…before he turned his unibrow into two separate entities), a maid (Zsa Zsa Gabor), an effeminate male secretary (Paul Lynde) and an aging rival (Chill Wills).

Luigi’s Useless Information: Not only is one of my all-time favorite actors, John Saxon, in this one, but so is Paul Lynde!  Lynde’s character is named Arthur, the same name of the recurring role he would later play on “Bewitched” with Elizabeth Montgomery (who was in the last episode).

Episode 4: “Who Killed Harris Crown?” - Directed by Don Weis/Original Air Date: 11 Oct. 1963 - Big-shot racing promoter Harris Crown drives his car off of a cliff…but it isn’t deliberate.  Burke’s investigation leads him to several lovely ladies, a dance troupe, and one large-ass brandy glass.  Guest suspects include the unbelievably gorgeous Juliet Prowse as Mrs. Crown, Joan Blondell and Don Rickles as a very irritating couple, “Green Acres” star Eva Gabor, Barbara Eden of “I Dream Of Jeannie” fame, Ruth Roman, Gene Nelson and Lola Albright.  Charles Lane plays a doctor.

Luigi’s Useless Information: This is the first episode of “Burke’s Law” to depict the murder victim before (and during) their untimely demise.  Than Wyenn, who plays the soon-dearly-departed, started out his career in the early 50s and continued playing bit-parts in motion pictures and (mostly) television up into the early 80s but never really managed to land a regular (big) part on any series (maybe due to the fact that he looked more than just a bit like Peter Falk…and as much as we all love Peter Falk, the world isn’t big enough for two of him).  I think it goes without saying, but Eva Gabor is the sister of Zsa Zsa Gabor (the maid in the last episode).

Disc Two:

Episode 5: “Who Killed Julian Buck?” - Directed by Don Weis/Original Air Date: 18 Oct. 1963 - After a wonderful opening with Burke sitting in the front seat of his Rolls at the drive-in eating chicken and drinking champagne with a lady from the next car over (poor Henry serves from the backseat), we find out that popular novelist Julian Buck has died.  The usual suspects this time include Corinne Calvet as a French beauty, Karl Boehm, Ed Begley (Sr., not Jr.), British comedian Terry-Thomas as a bartender/pub owner, character actor Kennan Wynn, and Rita Moreno (who many will remember from “The Electric Company”) offers up a stirring turn as an alcoholic.  Hell, Aaron Spelling is in this one, too!

Luigi’s Useless Information: Director Weis helmed over 150 episodes for various television shows in a thirty-plus year span as well as Pajama Party (a personal favorite, along with the rest of the “official” Beach Party flicks) with Annette Funicello and Tommy Kirk (which also featured funnyman Don Rickles, who was in the last episode).  He also worked as a script supervisor on films like Joseph Losey’s rarely-seen 1951 remake of Fritz Lang’s M.

Episode 6: “Who Killed Alex Debbs?” - Directed by Don Weis/Original Air Date: 25 Oct. 1963 - Alex Dobbs, published of Debonair magazine (both the victim and his corporation are inspired by Hugh Hefner and Playboy magazine) winds up dead in one of his own nightclubs.  Sammy Davis, Jr. plays a comedian.  Arlene Dahl, John Ireland, Burgess Meredith, and Diana Dors play suspects.  In the beginning of this Harlan Ellison-written episode, Henry makes a remark insinuating he used to work for The Green Hornet.

Luigi’s Useless Information: Burgess Meredith will always be The Penguin to me.  And in keeping up with the bizarre connecting-episodes-by-guest-stars thread I inadvertently started, Burgess Meredith was in that great big, stinking flop of a western called Mackenna’s Gold…and so was Keenan Wynn (who was in the last episode).

Episode 7: “Who Killed Sweet Betsy?” - Directed by Hy Averback/Original Air Date: 1 Nov. 1963 - Carolyn Jones, everybody’s favorite Morticia Addams, goes for the Peter Sellers/Alec Guinness Multiple Roles Award by playing a total of four sisters…one of whom is murdered by a poisoned martini!  There is a lot of boozing in this one…and guest suspect Richard Carlson goes for the Richard Burton/Oliver Reed Multiple Drinks Award the whole way through (you’d think he was a doctor at the golf clubhouse on St. Patrick’s Day, he drinks so much).  Both Gene Barry and Gary Conway fall for different sisters.  Gladys Cooper plays the invalid auntie of the siblings and Stuart Margolin is in here somewhere.

Luigi’s Useless Information: Good ol’ Richard Carlson is best remembered by many of us for his starring roles in Creature From The Black Lagoon and It Came From Outer Space.  In the latter half of his acting career, he found himself appearing regularly in television shows like “Rawhide” with Clint Eastwood.  By no strange amount of coincidence, the “Rawhide” episode in question also featured John Ireland (who was in the la-- dammit all, I really need to stop doing that).

Episode 8: “Who Killed Billy Jo?” - Directed by Hy Averback/Original Air Date: 8 Nov. 1963 - An up-and-coming rock-n-roll singer gets a bullet in the back.  All sorts of familiar faces could have done it, such as Cesar Romero, Nick Adams, Howard Duff, Tina Louise, Ida Lupino, Laraine Day or even Phil Harris!

Luigi’s Useless Information: In a completely pointless (but nevertheless amusing) bit, David Niven shows up as a juggler who can’t juggle.  I find it hard to believe, but Phil Harris may have actually been partially sober for his scenes in this episode (the real life Phil Harris would have got along great with Richard Carlson’s on-screen character in the last episode--damn, I did it again!  That’s it, I’m done!).  The great Nick Adams also appears in this episode, in one of five appearances he would make in this series (six if you count Dick Powell’s pilot episode).

Disc Three:

Episode 9: “Who Killed Wade Walker?” - Directed by Stanley Z. Cherry/Original Air Date: 15 Nov. 1963 - Millionaire Wade Walker goes up in a fiery blaze of glory when his airplane explodes in midair.  Who planted a bomb on Wade’s plane?  Was it his attorney/friend Mr. Rogers (Frankie Laine)?  His secretary (Nancy Sinatra)?  Or maybe one of his four girlfriends (Rhonda Fleming, Anne Francis, Martha Hyer, and Dana Wynter)?

Luigi’s Useless Information: I don’t know if it’s me, but Gary Conway really seemed like he was doing a Clint Eastwood impersonation (speaking through clenched teeth and all).  Maybe they went to the same acting school for tall guys with perfect teeth and hair or something.  Anne Francis would later return to the series in Season Two as Honey West, a role she would carry-on to a spin-off series of the same name (as well as making an appearance in the 1994 revival of “Burke’s Law”).

Episode 10: “Who Killed the Kind Doctor?” - Directed by Don Taylor/Original Air Date: 29 Nov. 1963 - A psychiatrist (Phillip Reed, in his last TV role) is threatened by one of his patients, but is gunned down (in the back) before he can reveal the name of the patient to his acquaintance Captain Burke on the phone.  Guest suspects include Joan Caulfield (the doctor’s wife), Celeste Holm, Sheree North (as a stripper named Gigi String), Susan Oliver (the secretary), Annette Funicello as a drama-queen movie star, and James MacArthur (Danno from “Hawaii Five-O”) as a spoiled rich kid.

Luigi’s Useless Information: In a truly inspired moment near the conclusion of the episode, Burke simply rolls his eyes and exclaims “Oh come on now…you’ve been watching too much television!” as the killer tries to run away, beckoning the assassin to come back (which they do).  Annette Funicello began her second career (the one without Walt Disney) in Beach Party earlier in the year as Dolores/Dee Dee.  She would play the same role (and four different variations of the same character) in several direct and indirect sequels.

Episode 11: “Who Killed Purity Mather?” - Directed by Walter Grauman/Original Air Date: 6 Dec. 1963 - Another one from Harlan Ellison.  After an incredibly laughable ritual, witch Purity Mather is murdered. Fortunately, since she foresaw her own demise, she had the common sense to mail off a recording to Capt. Burke with a list of possible suspects included.  Telly Savalas plays a fakir.  Mary Ann Mobley has one of her first small-screen roles as Burke’s girlfriend (of the week).  Charles Ruggles, Gloria Swanson, Wally Cox (as a vampire with a picture of Bela Lugosi in his live-in hearse), Nancy Kovack, and Janet Blair also co-star in this annoying episode which features a trip to a nudist colony.

Luigi’s Useless Information: One has to wonder if Harlan Ellison actually did any research on modern witchcraft or the supernatural before writing this episode: his depiction of Purity’s ritual is wholly inaccurate (hell, “Bewitched” was more authentic!) and only helps to encourage the hateful, prejudiced stereotypes that simple-minded people the world over keep perpetuating.  It also perpetuates my theory that Harlan Ellison is an idiot.  Thanks for trying to ruin this series like you tried to do with “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”, Harlan (which Mary Ann Mobley once guest starred in as the original April Dancer).

Episode 12: “Who Killed Cynthia Royal?” - Directed by Charles F. Haas/Original Air Date: 13 Dec. 1963 - A corpse is discovered on a mobile home (whilst en route).  Who killed Cynthia Royal?  And while we’re on the subject, who murdered her ex-husband James and tried to make it look like a suicide?  And what happened to James’ new wife, Eudora (Marilyn Maxwell)?  Somehow, Una Merkel’s missing, coffee-loving, pedigree Siamese cat and a couple of beatniks (Kathleen Nolan and Frankie Avalon!) play into the whole mix.  Stubby Kaye plays a nightclub owner/comic.  Burke is forced to watch his own show at the end (much to his disdain).

Luigi’s Useless Information: German beauty Erika Peters shows up briefly in this episode.  Born Erika Naub, she started her film career in her native Deutschland before migrating to America, where she appeared in a number of films and television shows (including “The Untouchables”, William Castle’s Mr. Sardonicus, and House Of The Damned).  Her final film role was in the cult classic Monstrosity (better known as The Atomic Brain) in 1964 - she married one of Hollywood’s biggest stylists, Sy Devore, the same year (he died two years later from a heart attack).  It makes sense that Frankie Avalon would have to pop up in this series: his Beach Party co-star Annette Funicello showed up two episodes earlier.

Disc Four:

Episode 13: “Who Killed Eleanora Davis?” - Directed by Don Taylor/Original Air Date: 20 Dec. 1963 - A corpse is discovered in the prop electric chair of an outdoor oddity museum by its proprietor, Professor Kingston (Arthur Hunnicutt).  Burke and company investigate the dead woman’s past and interview her former landlord (Jane Darwell), her ex-husband (Dean Jones), his new love (Terry Moore), and the employees of a girly calendar publishing company (Edward Everett Horton, Elsa Lanchester, and Nick Adams).  An odd assortment of jokes are thrown into this episode: Burke raises his eyebrow to a tombstone reading “He called Bat Masterson a liar” (writer Herman Hoffman also scripted a couple of episodes for Gene Barry’s previous series), and at one point, he undresses behind a changing screen and takes off three socks (which he can’t figure out as to why).

Luigi’s Useless Information: Nick Adams’ second appearance on “Burke’s Law”.  Elsa Lanchester will perhaps always be best known to Universal Horror fans as the creature’s intended mate in The Bride Of Frankenstein.  She also appeared in Pajama Party with Annette Funicello for director Don Weis.  Edward Everett Horton, in addition to being famous for his roles in Arsenic And Old Lace (1944) as well as numerous 1930’s musical comedies (e.g. the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers films), he also provided the tender, quavering narration for the Fractured Fairy Tales segments on “Rocky And His Friends” (later “The Bullwinkle Show” - which featured the voice of Charles Ruggles).  Horton also played the title character in Ruggles Of Red Gap (1923), which as remade in 1935 with Charles Ruggles and Zasu Pitts playing supporting characters.  If you’ve been paying attention all along, you’ll know where I’m going with this…

Episode 14: “Who Killed Beau Sparrow?” - Directed by David Orrick McDearmon/Original Air Date: 27 Dec. 1963 - A healthy young lad takes a dip into the pool off of a new catapult-type diving board.  He dies.  Unfortunately, the medical examiner can’t figure out why he died.  In the meantime, Burke interviews possible suspects including a hypochondriac millionaire (Jack Haley) and his wife (Anges Moorehead), a Countess (Yvonne De Carlo), and a playboy industrialist (Ken Murray).  June Allyson, Dan Tobin, and Rosemarie Stack (wife of “Unsolved Mysteries” host Robert Stack) are also featured.

Luigi’s Useless Information: As Capt. Burke is on the scene when Beau Sparrow dies, he is unable to do his famous Ride-to-the-Crime-Scene during the show’s opening credits.  Therefore (and it’s a nice touch), Det. Tilson gets the honor.

Episode 15: “Who Killed Jason Shaw?” - Directed by Stanley Z. Cherry/Original Air Date: 3 Jan. 1964 - A dead man found fully clothed in the shower proves to be a tough case…especially when you throw in an assortment of wealthy eccentrics (Burgess Meredith, Keenan Wynn, Richard Haydn, and Oskar Homolka), an struggling artist (Tammy Grimes), and a ditzy blonde (Joyce Jameson).  Marlyn Mason plays the dead man’s secretary.

Luigi’s Useless Information: Richard Haydn’s butler in this episode is played by Milton Parsons, an almost skeletal-like actor whose grave-sounding voice and appearance was his meal ticket for thirty-nine years: Hollywood frequently cast him as creepy undertakers, coroners, and butlers.

Episode 16: “Who Killed Snooky Martinelli?” - Directed by Robert Ellis Miller/Original Air Date: 10 Jan. 1964 - In the last episode, Burke made a crack about himself being the victim in a murder case.  Well, turns out that kind of happens in this episode!  Well, it isn’t Burke per se, but rather his doppelganger: an international playboy who meets his untimely demise singing a lounge song to a group of lovely intoxicated ladies (and who wouldn’t want to go that way?).  Guest stars include Hoagy Carmichael (yes, the one and only), Broderick Crawford, Arlene Dahl, Carl Reiner, and Cesar Romero.

Luigi’s Useless Information: Look, I know I promised to quit connecting actors to other actors from the last episode, but this one’s just eating away at me: Cesar Romero played alongside Burgess Meredith in both the iconic campy series and feature-length film version of “Batman” (this also marked the second appearance in “Burke’s Law” for both).  In this episode, the “openly closeted gay” Romero is a suspect along with Carl Reiner, who played in George Clooney‘s 2001 remake of Ocean’s Eleven…Romero was in Frank Sinatra’s original 1960 version.  Romero was also in The Thin Man (1934) - the first of a wonderful series of films - the third installment being Another Thin Man (1939) which featured Milton Parsons as a coroner.

Presentation
Thanks to the efforts of the good folks at Blair and Associates, Ltd., these episodes of “Burke’s Law” have been digitally remastered from the original 35mm fine grain masters and are presented to us with glorious-looking transfers.  Each episode is in its original 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio and features a very, very loud Mono Stereo soundtrack (which means you won’t have to crank it like you usually do in the case of Vintage Television shows).  Neither Subtitles or Captions are included (tsk, tsk), so you deaf and hard-of-hearing folks will have to settle for reading lips.

My only complaint (and this is most likely an oversight) is that there is a brief problem video-wise on Episode 13.  I don’t know if this could have been avoided or not, but it’s there anyway.

Extras
Every disc includes a good ten minutes of Vintage Commercials so you can bask in their habit-forming glory!  Most of these spots are a minute (or so) in length.

Disc One’s commercials (10:30) include: the sporting side of L&M Cigarettes with golf legend Arnold Palmer (who throws a lighted cigarette on the green!  ON THE GREEN!!); a stereotypical 60s mother and daughter discover the joys of using Py-Co-Pay Toothbrush (a fitting companion-piece to those teeth-yellowing tobacco sticks); one man’s life in complete when he comes across Lark Cigarettes - with the charcoal granules sandwiched in-between two filters (call me crazy, but inhaling charcoal can’t be healthy for you); a kid dressed as a cowboy (he’s All-American, folks!) falls down - his unseen-but-loving mother promptly sprays his scraped-up hand with some burning, stinging, nerve-numbing Unguentine First-Aid Aerofilm; a Jay North-looking boy loves Heinz Ketchup…and his voiceover mom sounds a lot like Barbara Billingsley); thrill as a panel of bitchy mothers discuss whether Crest Toothpaste actually works or not (note how half of these women are hacking off-screen…probably all those damn charcoal-filtered cigarettes!); a cute ad for Schlitz Beer features the Schlitz guy popping the top of a billboard can and reaping the rewards (Schlitz: for the alky in you); Prestone Anti-Freeze (also for the alky in you); a terrific, anorexic-endorsing promo for Metrical suggests women are heavy at 140lbs (you stupid overweight cows…lose some weight!  No wonder your husbands want to swing!); another one for L&M Cigarettes (this time with a little boy getting his hair cut in the barbershop - dad stands beside him…smoking…indoors…ah, the 60s…I’m surprised he wasn’t holding sipping on a can of Schlitz, brushing his son’s teeth and spraying Unguentine into his Aryan son’s bright blue eyes at the same time); and, finally, an advertisement for Lifebuoy Soap (clean! Clean! Keep your white, god-fearing skin clean, dammit, CLEAN!).

The commercials on Disc Two (10:28) include: Fineline Lipstick/Sheer Genius by Max Factor (the latter half of the spot features stills of random women with the same two voices discussing cosmetics); a group of odd-looking but fun-loving teens enjoy Heinz Ketchup…on everything (these kids must have a table the size of Taiwan in order to accommodate all the food they’re shown pouring ketchup on); the mumbling big-sister of the Ehlen Family in Minneapolis testifies (under penalty of death) that Crest Toothpaste is the shiznit; tired of suffering from “…the misery of psoriasis”?  Try Tegrin (or wash your face, whichever works); that wacky Schlitz guy is back, this time using his powers of evil mysticism to defy the laws of gravity…just to make you mortals drink beer; a young couple bribe the moving guy with L&M Cigarettes so that he can continue to do all they work while they lounge about on the sofa; Once Upon A Red Lipstick by Max Factor  (this is actually a well-done ad - very groovy); a ten-second PSA reminding you that you can always opt not to buy Schlitz, cigarettes and lipstick and instead support the United Way; Prestone Anti-Freeze (which is also great for psoriasis); Yay!  It’s snowing outside!  Let’s smoke L&M Cigarettes!; Write Challenge, PO Box 1776, NY 17 today and find out what the hell Challenge to Americans is (a ten-second PSA)!; For a clean shave, without slicing off your tender bottom lip, use the Remington 25 electric shaver (with advanced settings: Low and High).

Moving on to Disc Three (6:40): Long before digital technology, there was the “simple” Polaroid Colorpack Camera - a bulky contraption complete with a detachable flash that you had to carry around in your pocket…hoping nobody would bump into you and cause the bulb to shatter and imbed itself in your skin; an unseen couple eating pancakes (the forerunners for those Shed Spread commercials?) discuss how much butter really goes into Mrs. Butterworth Syrup; can’t concentrate on your game?  Take Pepto Bismal to sooth your “lower tract” (they couldn’t say diarrhea back then, I guess); Men also fall victim to obesity - so use Metrical!; a guy in his 40s (!) is happy that he found Polident to clean his dentures; Arlene Hardy, a research technician (and she really must be a research technician since she can’t act!) recommends Nytol to help you sleep (it’s also good for committing suicide just in case Metrical doesn’t work); nothing says “I love you” to that special woman like a Lady Remington (“For Christ’s sake honey, shave!”); another PSA reminds you to go to church (back when churches could get away with PSAs on National TV); more young people are ecstatic that Polident works so well (did the dental industry completely suck back then or what?  None of these people are over 55!).

Finally, on Disc Four (9:40), we have: Contac Cold Medicine (featuring the voice of Sterling Holloway); another boring Crest Toothpaste commercial that dared to use real-live non-actors; a very man-ish looking housewife recommends Lifebuoy Soap; a group of the guys from work meet up and proceed to get Schlitz-faced; yet another family received a kickback from Crest Toothpaste; the NEW ‘64 Pontiac Tempest tries its best to disguise itself as a house; ladies, don’t grow old…use Pure Magic and Lash-Full Textured Mascara Wand by Max Factor!; Imperial Margarine - now with corn oil flavor!; a PSA encouraging people to use those seat-belt thingies in the car; Mentholatum Deep Heating Rub - deep heating for deep hurting; Lux Liquid - boy, the ad company that made this one got it right: “for the woman who does dishes without help”!  Oddly enough, the selling-woman in this ad is referred to as “Margie” (Palmolive’s famous endorser was called “Marge”); Mentholatum Ointment; and once more, ladies: remove those shameful lipstick marks with Wisk Laundry Detergent…never you mind whether they’re your lipstick marks or not (she’s just his secretary, after all).

In addition to the TV Spots, Disc Two also features a Before And After Digital Restoration (1:43) clip showing how truly superb of a job Blair and Associates, Ltd. did with these episodes.

The case for Disc One also houses a wonderful fact-filled booklet featuring an Episode and Story Guide for this set, The Story of “Burke’s Law” and a list of Burke’s Law-isms (a true gem).  The notes were written by Clifford Weimer (www.inthebalcony.com) and Joel Blumberg (www.silverscreenaudio.com) while the “isms” were compiled by Nan and Glenda of www.xmission.com.  Great job, kids: Uncle Luigi salutes you!

Also included on Disc One (although there is no mention of it) are several original Episodic Promos (a teaser for next week’s chapter which was usually sandwiched in-between the epilogue and the closing credits) narrated by Gene Barry.

The Bottom Line
Never watch plain, ordinary television when you can go out and buy “Burke’s Law” on DVD instead: Luigi’s Law.